Gaming facilities (e.g., casinos) operate in a highly competitive environment. To maximize revenues, these facilities try to attract new and repeat patrons by making patrons feel welcome and appreciated. For example, these facilities often offer patrons a wide variety of amenities and services other than gaming, such as restaurants and valet services, and entertainment options like concerts and theater events. Moreover, successful gaming facilities must continually update the games, amenities, and services that they offer patrons in order to remain competitive.
New entrants to the gaming industry face even more difficulty. For example, enormous amounts of capitol are necessary to fund the design and development of a new gaming facility. These problems prevent non-gaming type hospitality facilities, such as hotels, motels, amusement parks, theme parks, and resorts, and retail facilities, such as grocery stores and gas stations, from entering the gaming industry.
One way for gaming facilities to increase revenues and for non-gaming facilities to enter into the gaming industry would be for each to provide patrons with the ability to play from an off-site location (e.g., from home) via an online network (e.g., the Internet). These facilities, however, face many problems associated with providing off-site gaming over an online network.
One problem is that patrons do not have confidence in the security of the online networks, such as the Internet, and thus, are hesitant to provide personal information and/or to purchase wagers over online networks. Another problem is that gaming via online networks, such as the Internet, is not legal in many places. Therefore, these facilities may not be able to provide their patrons with such an ability.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,128,652 entitled “System, Method, and Article of Manufacture for Gaming from an Off-Site Location” discloses a system and methods for providing patrons with the ability to purchase wagers at a gaming facility and to reveal the results of the wagers at the gaming facility or an off-site location A need exists, however, for a method and system to enable patrons to purchase wagers in multi-player games, wherein the results of the wagers may be revealed at an off-site location. A need also exists for a method and system to enable patrons to share in the experience of playing multi-player games with friends and family.